Groups

Presentation

The group ID ERGO, (Research and Development in Ergonomics) is one of the research groups of the Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A). Besides its research activity described below, ID ERGO is directly involved in teaching undergraduates at the Faculty of Medicine and the Higher Polytechnic Engineering School (Centro Politécnico Superior ), participates in some Doctoral Programs such as the Interuniversitary Doctoral Program in Biomedical Engineering or the Master in Occupational Risks Prevention. We also collaborate in other activities and forums, including scientific conferences, courses and seminars for postgraduates.

Experience

The main goals of ID ERGO are centered in the scopes of the Ergonomics and the Labor Psycho-sociology. Understanding Ergonomics, like a multidisciplinary methodology that tries to adapt artificial products, systems and surroundings to the needs, limitations and characteristics of the users, increasing the productivity and quality of the life of the workers. Our activity is centered in the following fields, in which we have developed different research projects:
Ø Ergonomics of the Workplace. The group collaborate with labor risks prevention services of different companies, in the development of new methods for the ergonomic evaluation of workplaces.
Ø Ergonomics of the Product. The group has done some studies, evaluating and improving the usability of products for different companies. Ergonomics of people with special needs (disabled and elderly). The main tasks in this field have been related with developing and evaluating technical aids, making reports of accessibility and barriers suppression as well as of occupational Integration.
Ø Labor Psycho-sociology. Some computerization has been made of methods of Psychosocial evaluation and studies about Mobbing and Burnout.

Research

The main research line is "Ergonomics of the workplace". The goal of this line is the analysis of work related tasks, tools and production methods, in order to avoid the accidents and occupational diseases, decrease the physical and mental stress and increase the workers satisfaction. The implementation of ergonomic aspects in a company provokes, not only benefits in the satisfaction and health of the workers, but also an increase of the performance and a decrease of the costs caused by mistakes and accidents. Basic areas of application in this field are:
Ø Consultancy in workplaces design and evaluation.
Ø Ergonomics evaluation methods.
Ø Labour risks evaluation equipment.

The main projects in this line are:
Ø Advising the development of the ergonomics department of MAZ mutual. We have accomplished ergonomic evaluation of workplaces using ENVISION-ERGOTM software (DELMIA Corporation). This software allows 3D simulations and ergonomics analysis with human models.
Ø ERES-expert. Psychological and Ergonomics Expert Evaluation Program. This is a system that stores information, and evaluates the physical and mental stress through an intelligent checklist. This software is implemented in PDA hardware, in order to facilitate the use.
Ø ERGONOGRAF. Ergonomic analysis of risk factors in the workplace for manufacturers of waved cardboard and Graphical Arts sector. This project is financed by: Foundation for the Prevention of Labour Risks.

MOVE-HUMAN. Human Motion Capture Software is developed in order to carry out ergonomic 3D analysis at the workplace. This system allows the technical personnel who is in charge of prevention of labour risks, to evaluate the labour risks at the working places with a simple and objective method. It is a portable system of moderate costs that allows to capture the movement of the worker with two estereo cameras. Likewise it is capable of realizing the biomechanic calculations and ergonomic analyses of the human kinematic model. The system includes functionalities of 3D animation and simulation iin order to analyze and to evaluate possible improvements of the worker´s tasks on the recreated virtual scene.

Facilities

The group ID ERGO is located in the Torres Quevedo building. There we have offices for teachers, rooms for collaborating personell, workshop with appliance of measurement for ergonomic analyses and rooms with PCs for development of software.

Financiación

The financial support comes from the projects carried out with different companies from the fields like; prevention of labour risks services, industrial companies / manufacturers, service companies, companies developing software.

Estructura y personal

The Group ID ERGO, directed by Prof. J.J. Marín, is formed by University professors belonging to different knowledge areas of the Higher Polytechnic Engineering School and the Faculty of Medicine, due to the multidisciplinary profile of the Ergonomics, as well as by research scholarship holders and external professionals to the University with consolidated experience in this field. Different kind of collaborations have been established with Institutions, Industrial Companies, Services Companies and Labor Risks Mutuals. All of these partners are very sensitized with the ergonomic and psychosocial aspects involved in the scope of its activity or enterprise performance, and that reinforces and amplifies our research and development activities.